Cool Runnings - Winter Testing The Hottest New Models

A sleepy town near the Arctic Circle plays host to the world’s car manufacturers each winter. We find out why they flock there.

- Joe Finnerty

“MORE gas, more gas – it’s virtually impossible to spin!” are the confident instructions from our co-driver as we career sideways in a Ford Focus RS, worryingly close to the thick snow banks around us.

And while our gut reaction is to slam on the brakes and panic, we keep the faith with our experienced engineer in the passenger seat, kicking the throttle and tweaking the wheel. The hot hatch bites and stabilises, while the impressive slide continues in a cloud of pure white snow that covers our rear window. It’s a remarkable and addictive feeling made possible by hours of research, testing and tuning by experts on the banks of this bitterly cold, frozen lake.

The Drift Mode system on the Focus RS that’s made us look like we’re ready to take on – and win – the World Rally Championship is just one of many magic tricks developed by manufacturers in this unforgiving icy environment. This motoring Mecca is Arjeplog, an icy outpost around 60 miles south of the Arctic Circle in Sweden. It hosts the Wintertest programme, where the entire car industry descends on this normally sleepy town to use the lake – frozen to around half a metre – as a test bed from January to March.

Everyone from Fiat to Land Rover has models at the Colmis Proving Ground, and they’re being put through extensive testing programmes in temperatures as low as -40 degrees. It’s a cold, remote and labour-intensive job, but the work that’s done each year at Wintertest directly impacts on the cars that we buy and drive.

Auto Express wanted to see just what a day in these sub-zero temperatures is like, so we joined engineering firm GKN Driveline for the trip north. This global company has 25 years of experience, but will be a mystery to most motorists, yet its work is found on current models such as the Range Rover Evoque, BMW i8, Volvo XC90 – and the Focus RS we’re driving.